Lime’s flash pan burst as Grant climbed into the coach, both men exchanging a look.
Grant settled into his seat. Nemo didn’t remove his glasses.
Nemo said, “I hate bagpipe music.”
Grant said, “It’s a tradition, live with it. Or die with it.”
“Death is preferable.”
“You have your wish. You can live or die anywhere you want.”
Nemo said, “You’ll honor that?”
Grant said, “That’s my intention.”
They rode for a moment, listening to the steady rhythm of the team as Efrem drove them. Nemo said, “He always called you Sam, but that’s not your middle name.”
Grant said, “I don’t have one. The S was added as a moniker. It doesn’t mean anything.”
Nemo said, “My name doesn’t mean anything, either. Anymore.”
Grant nodded, and they rode, neither man acknowledging the thick file folder, marked TOP SECRET, on the seat between them.
NEMO RISING
FROM SCRIPT TO NOVEL AND BACK AGAIN
A kiddie matinee, with popcorn boxes and cups of soda flying overhead, was my introduction to Jules Verne. The movie was Mysterious Island, that grand and very loose adaptation of Verne’s semi-sequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which featured that wonderful giant crab, created by Ray Harryhausen, and a mesmerizing Captain Nemo in the form of actor Herbert Lom.
I was about eight years old, and hadn’t read any of Verne yet, but I knew who he was, thanks to monster magazines, comic books, paperbacks from the local spinning racks at the drugstore, and a series of record album adaptations of Twenty Thousand Leagues, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. There was even a dramatic record of Twenty Thousand Leagues starring Jonny Quest and Race Bannon (!), which I still proudly own.
I wish I could pretend my interest in Verne, and all that he created, had more sophisticated roots, but the movies and comic books touched the nerve that made me want to discover the real thing and sit down and read.
Discover would be the right word, as Verne not only predicted future technologies with amazing accuracy, he wrote his books to be about discoveries and the journey made, whether around the world or to the Moon. There is a sense of wonder about Verne’s writings that often found its way into the best film adaptations, especially Disney’s 20,000 Leagues.
Wonder is something we don’t see much in movies anymore, as the sense of media awareness has made even five-year-olds experts on popular culture. It’s also led to a sense of cynicism, especially in fantasy films, that I wanted to avoid when I decided to write my own “loose” Verne adaptation: really, creating a new adventure by combining Captain Nemo with Robur the Conqueror from Master of the World, and hopefully capturing that feeling I had in that kiddie matinee decades ago.
Over time there had been a bit of studio interest, and even an option or two, but The Return of Captain Nemo as film or pilot was never made, and after more than a decade, and the prodding of author Miles Swarthout, the script became the outline for this novel. I kept to my original structure, but found discoveries along the way, including a major shift by focusing on the technology that Verne was so fond of, and pushing it further in the book, to the creation of the villain’s monsters and President Grant’s dirigible.
The following scene is the classic, and expected, battle between the Nautilus and a giant sea snake that’s actually a multi-headed hydra, so a little mythology—movie and Greek—snuck into the old screenplay as well.
In the novel, this became the fight with a mechanical beast that, to me, feels closer to the spirit of Jules Verne, and the dreams he created during the revolution of men and machines. Or at least, it’s a nod to all those crazy, wonder-filled adaptations that led me to the original works of this genius and all that he foretold.
EXT. UNDERWATER—THE SEA GARDEN
Nemo and Sara sack the last of the lobsters. Behind them, in the darkness of a cave—
AN EYE OPENS
Then another. And a third. And a fourth.
NEMO AND SARA
Move around the edges of the “garden,” harvesting sea fruit. Sara grabs a bunch of seaweed that SLITHERS out of her hand and swims away! She starts. Nemo laughs. Sara looks toward Nemo, SHOUTS SILENTLY TO HIM, as—
A SEA HYDRA
Swims from its lair. Double-headed. Body over a hundred feet. The thing races for Sara and Nemo. Two sets of jaws jetting through the water. Bearing down. Striking.
NEMO
jerks Sara away from the snapping heads. A forked tongue lashes her. Squeezes. Sara rips a knife from her belt, slices the tongue deep. Blood smokes the water. The snake whips in pain, SLAMMING the two to the ocean floor. Silt EXPLODES around them. A thick cloud rises.
INT. NAUTILUS—THE BRIDGE—NIGHT
The view ports are clouded blind.
FULMER
Engine room! Be standin’ by with full power!
UNDERWATER W/ NEMO, SARA, AND THE SEA HYDRA
Through the rolling silt, sand and blood, the Hydra angles toward the sub. Nemo grabs one of the marking stakes. The two heads come for him. Nemo falls on his back, the thing passing just inches above.
Nemo jams the iron stake into the sea snake’s belly. The N rips it. The creature SCREAMS, body flailing. The hydra’s tail SMASHES the Nautilus! Flesh ripping metal.
INT. NAUTILUS—BRIDGE—NIGHT
The crew are SLAMMED into the walls. A crewman’s nose busts. The wheel spins. Fulmer takes hold.
EXT. UNDERWATER W/ NEMO AND SARA
Nemo grabs Sara, the snake circles the sub.
INT. NAUTILUS—DIVER’S HATCH—NIGHT
Water BURSTS from the hatch as Nemo and Sara roll out. A SAILOR pulls them free, as THE HYDRA’S TWO HEADS BLAST through the opening! Six feet high. Snapping wild. One head SLAMS Sailor to the wall, the other strikes at Nemo. Misses.
The Hydra’s huge body imprisons it in the hatchway, as—
NEMO
dives for the weapons rack, grabs the laser rifle. The snake lurches forward, snaring Sara in one of its jaws, pulls her in. She struggles. It clamps. Nemo tries to shoot. No power. Sara barely SCREAMS. Lungs empty. Ribs cracking. Nemo SMASHES her helmet with the rifle butt. Shark bone and brass flying.
SARA
gulps air as Nemo PLUNGES THE RIFLE BARREL INTO THE HYDRA’S EYE, bursting it. Hydra SCREAMS, dropping Sara. Retreats back down the diving hatch. Nemo SLAMS the hatch, makes it fast.
INT. BRIDGE—NIGHT
As Nemo and Sara charge in. Fulmer’s at the wheel. All eyes go to the view ports where the giant belly of the sea snake can be seen, coiling. Rope of flesh around the Nautilus. Strangling it.
EXT. UNDERWATER WITH THE NAUTILUS AND THE HYDRA—NIGHT
The two-headed monster constricts. Ribs and muscles tighten. Rivets on the sub loosen and pop.
INT. NAUTILUS—VARIOUS—NIGHT
The CREWMEN react as the Nautilus creaks. Metal whines. A seam above Jess SPEWS seawater. Starts to bend.
INT. BRIDGE WITH NEMO, SARA, AND FULMER—NIGHT
The view ports start to bulge.
SARA
What if we electrify the outer plates? I can siphon power directly from an arc in the laboratory.
Nemo regards Sara. Water tears around the ports.
NEMO
Get Miss Duncan anything she needs—!
The action of the crew is whip-fast. Moving. Preparing for battle.
EXT. UNDERWATER WITH THE HYDRA—NIGHT
The Nautilus is completely covered by the sea snake. The animal—blood flowing from its blind eye—keeps drawing in on itself. Ever tighter.
INT. NAUTILUS—LABORATORY—NIGHT
Sara and Jess haul the arc with the crude cardio-cables from the lab.
JESS
You know better than I do, miss, but this scares me dry!
SARA
You’ll be drinking soon enough.
INT. NAUTILUS—BRIDGE—NIG
HT
Jess and Sara set the machine down. Sara attaches the paddles to a support beam, while Fulmer bares a power cable. They work furiously, and their words collide as they speak on top of each other:
SARA
Let’s pray your little invention can save more than one life at a time!
JESS
If it don’t, we’re supper for that thing!
FULMER
Ya signs on, ya take yer risks—
NEMO
A professional attitude, Mr. Fulmer.
Sara opens the main control panel, exposing the power source. She gives Nemo a nod, he shuts the main. Darkness. We can HEAR the crew YELLING O.S. Jess lights a lens focused-candle for Sara as she splices into the hot line.
A metal seam SPLITS. The sea sprays in. The HYDRA’S ROAR FILLS the sub.
Jess shoves Sara into the captain’s chair as Nemo throws the main power switch. BLUE SPARKS EXPLODE from the control panel in a WILD BURST!
THE CARDIO MACHINE’S
Electricity arcs onto the main beam; a swarm of blue-hot insects crawling through the Nautilus’ metal guts and skin, making their way to—
EXT. UNDERWATER WITH THE HYDRA—NIGHT
The electricity TEARS FROM the sub’s surface, ripping the snake up the middle. Cooking it. Boiling the four eyes before BLOWING the body apart in an ACRID BLAST.
INT. NAUTILUS—BRIDGE—NIGHT
Rocked. Jess is thrown off balance. His hand grazes a cross beam. BLUE POWER slams Jess—Hellish—as he’s hurled across the bridge, SHATTERED against the far wall.
NEMO
dives for the cable, rips it free. The blue arc sputters. Dies. And Jess folds over, dead.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. COURTNEY JOYNER is an award-winning writer of fiction, comics, and screenplays. He has more than twenty-five movies to his credit, including the cult films Prison, starring Viggo Mortensen, and Class of 1999, directed by Mark Lester. Joyner is a graduate of the University of Southern California, and his first produced screenplay was The Offspring, which starred Vincent Price. Joyner’s other scripts have included TV movies for CBS, USA, and Showtime networks. He is the author of the Shotgun Western series and Nemo Rising. You can sign up for email updates here.
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
NEMO RISING
Copyright © 2017 by C. Courtney Joyner
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Raymond Swanland
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Joyner, C. Courtney, 1959– author.
Title: Nemo rising / C. Courtney Joyner.
Description: First edition. | New York: Tor Books, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017043430 | ISBN 9780765376350 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781466851108 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Nemo, Captain (Fictitious character)—Fiction. | Ship captains—Fiction. | Steampunk fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Sea Stories. | GSAFD: Adventure fiction. | Sea stories.
Classification: LCC PS3610.O976 N46 2017 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017043430
eISBN 9781466851108
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First Edition: December 2017
CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1: Sky Demon
Chapter 2: Death Messages and Declarations
Chapter 3: Madman of the Seas
Chapter 4: The Devil’s Warehouse
Chapter 5: Dakkar
Chapter 6: Red Tide
Chapter 7: Iron and Stone
Chapter 8: Profondo Rosso
Chapter 9: Deal with the Devil
Chapter 10: Combatants
Chapter 11: Rust and Blood
Chapter 12: Inside the Beast
Chapter 13: The Violence of Night
Chapter 14: Loyalties
Chapter 15: Dead Treasure
Chapter 16: Hearts of Machines and Men
Chapter 17: Waterfront
Chapter 18: Invaders from All Quarters
Chapter 19: Fortress
Chapter 20: Sword of the Ocean
Chapter 21: Beneath the Waves
Chapter 22: Leprechaun
Chapter 23: Harpies
Chapter 24: Lieutenant
Chapter 25: Dark Waters
Chapter 26: Blue Fire
Chapter 27: Preparations
Chapter 28: Ghost from the Mist
Chapter 29: Spider
Chapter 30: Another Launch
Chapter 31: Two Ships
Chapter 32: Resurrected
Chapter 33: The Survivor
Chapter 34: Beasts and the Sea
Chapter 35: Requiem
Chapter 36: The Terror
Chapter 37: The City in the Sky
Chapter 38: Firestorm
Nemo Rising
About the Author
Copyright
Nemo Rising Page 31
